Many vehicles have an open load-carrying compartment, hereinafter sometimes referred to as cargo compartment, composed generally of two sidewalls and front and rear walls or tailgates. Some obvious examples include pickup trucks and dump trucks. As the vehicle moves along the road, highway or track, wind resistance/air drag is encountered primarily on two surfaces, the front of the vehicle, which includes the front wall of the cargo compartment, and the rear wall or tailgate of the cargo compartment. This wind resistance/air drag must be met by increased fuel consumption in moving the vehicle or by reduction of wind resistance/air drag through aero dynamic design of the vehicle and the open load carrying compartment.
Several examples of prior art have attempted to deal with the problem of wind resistance/air drag and some of the prior art has attempted to meet the problem of cargo passing through the vented wall or tailgate. Prior art has attempted to achieve the same ends of reduced wind resistance/air drag and prevention of cargo loss through a variety of venting or shielding mechanisms. However, those mechanisms fail to achieve these ends in the following regards: They do not supply a complete seal and would lose cargo such as sand, hay, or other light or fine matter at the same time that they allow air to pass through the vented wall or tailgate of the load-carrying compartment (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,772, Dec., 1977, Kincaid); they have a cargo shield or baffle which provide an incomplete or nonlocking seal which would also allow fine and loose cargo to pass through the vents with wind pressure (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,118, Aug., 1979, Jenseon); or they provide complicated mechanisms with a series of latches, locks, hinges, and other moving parts which are time consuming to operate and susceptible of rapid wear and tear due to the great number of moving parts (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,905, Jan. 1979, Morgan and U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,411, May, 1980, Morgan). None of the prior art serves both ends with such ease and efficiency as this invention.